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Kaz is a street-wise ex-con who got a law degree in jail and now defends the poor and downtrodden. His legal methods are pushy, his language rough, but you can be sure he gets results for his clients. Smartly enough, the series' creators have also provided the hero with a perfect foil: Patrick O'Neal as an elegant corporate lawyer who takes Kaz into his firm. Whenever it seems that Leibman might burn a hole in the tube, Old Pro O'Neal trots out to cool things down.
WKRP in Cincinnati (Sept. 18, CBS, 8 p.m.). If this Mary Tyler Moore pro duction can maintain the level of its premiere, it will be the funniest series to hit prime-time TV since The Mary Tyler Moore Show itself. Set at a money-losing radio station that dumps its "elevator music" format for top-40 rock, WKRP is a sitcom dream. Its laughs derive from character rather than contrived gags; its cast is an ensemble of inventive comic actors. The first episode, which establishes the premise and players with dazzling efficiency, is an almost steady howl.
In the MTM tradition, WKRP is about the modern American family: people who work together rather than live together. Among the station employees are the hip new program director (Gary Sandy), a shamelessly corrupt ad manager (Frank Bonner), and a prissy newscaster obsessed with hog futures (Richard Sanders). If there is a standout performer, it is Howard Hesseman as a fading deejay who falls asleep during his own broadcasts. Hesseman gets so many laughs that even the show's typically effusive laugh track cannot keep up with the pace